This past week, our family enjoyed some down time in Harvard, Illinois fellowshipping with the precious families of the CPC during our annual Presbytery. During this time, we basked in the sweet memories of the previous Saturday, when our second oldest daughter, Tiffany, became the wife of her beloved, Benjamin Hector.

I promised to share with you some of the highlights, and am sharing a few photos as well. I was hoping to write a post that would properly communicate the beauty and loveliness of this special time, as well as fully express our gratefulness to friends and family who helped make it happen; however, this has proven to be a challenge, as there is really no way to capture a proper expression of the joy, emotion, love, and thankfulness we experienced these past few weeks.

Many dear friends and family joined us in celebration and thanksgiving to God as Tiffany and Ben entered into this new and exciting season of oneness.

In addition to the joy over the reason for it all, we witnessed, first hand, the amazing beauty of God’s people coming together to help “bear the burden” of creating a memorable event that included beauty, music, feasting, and celebration.

Providence friends coming together to help put together wedding favors, wash glassware, fill oil lamps, and prepare for “the big day.”

My good friend, Tonya Chapa, blessed me in an amazing way—she and another sweet friend, Sarah Storie, sacrificially freed me from the overwhelming stress of trying to be in four places at once. While I focused on preparing for the wedding and reception, Tonya and Sarah flew all the way from Colorado to hold down the fort by moving into our home for the week. They cooked fabulous gourmet meals; kept things organized; welcomed visitors; and literally ran the house. Sarah had to leave early, before the wedding, to fly home to help with another wedding!

The above photo shows a few of the delectable desserts they prepared for family and out of town guests the Thursday before the wedding. Below you see them in the midst of glorifying God with their gifts and serving the Body of Christ!

Tonya also helped me decorate for the reception; and created beautiful, artistic signs for the reception, for the bridal room, and for Ben and Tiffany’s new home. You can check out her work HERE. Praise God for good friends!

My parents took the little ones swimming and on rare and treasured trips to Steak and Shake. Not sure who was blessed the most by this, but hey, as long as everyone was happy! Either way, the children had a blast and loved wearing Mimi and Papa out!

Below is a glimpse of the rehearsal. We dressed in “tropical” fashion in honor of all the visiting Californians. Notice the ever-efficient Katherine Sanford in the background, keeping us all on task!

Mothers of the bride and groom…grandsisters extraordinaire.

A spectacular rehearsal dinner was given by the Hector family at a wonderful Italian restaurant. We filled the place up with family and friends and a fun time was had by all!

The big day! The groom looks nervous!

Christa and Ben trust Thomas with the ring. Now Thomas looks nervous.

Caleb, Jonathan, and Anthony looking dapper!

Jean and Dave Hector – happy parents of the groom!

Father-daughter moment in the bridal room.

Mother-Daughter moment in the bridal room.

Tiffany designed and made her own wedding dress – a true family heirloom. Jennie Chancey and her family spent the week with us several months ago to help Tiffany with the big project. The dress is made of silk dupioni and is augmented with antique lace and netting from a dress given to Tiffany by the groom’s grandmother. It was absolutely stunning. Thank you, Jennie, for your expert assistance! Visit Jennie at Sense and Sensibility Patterns.

Goodbye to little sisters…

No crying until after the wedding! Said with an authentic Scarlett O’Hara accent, “We’ll cry tomorrow!”

The amazing wedding quartet: Anna Van Holten, Joanna Erber, Ethan Webb, and Jeremy Degenhart. Thank you!!!

Bagpiper Greg Boyd precedes the bride in a dramatic grande entrance!

The groom’s face as his bride enters the room.

The last stroll with Daddy.

And they both said, “I do.”

After their very first kiss…ever…a godly embrace!

After a beautiful and God-honoring courtship, Ben and Tiffany became husband and wife.

Ben and Tiffany with Rev. Steve Walker and Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr., officiants at the wedding.

The wedding party enjoys a fun drive to the reception!

While we purchased a small, traditional wedding cake from a local bakery, we wanted to do something different—something more interesting and delicious for the large crowd.

So, a precious and talented sister at our church, Kelley Bandy, and her daughter, Grace, blessed us by making five different styles of gourmet-style cupcakes—a total of 400 beautiful and luscious cakes! Praise God for good friends!

Two naturally gluten-free options were a flour-less chocolate cake (my favorite!) topped with whipped cream and a luscious and elegant cheese cake. There was also a chocolate espresso cake (most popular), a lemon curd filled cake (my mother and grandmother loved these!), and a fun-fetti cake (by special request from the groom – “elegant on the outside and fun on the inside”).

In addition, Kelley ran the kitchen at the reception, assisted by her family, as well as the Auer family and others. Kelley missed the ceremony, but was able to watch it from the reception hall by live stream, along with family and friends across the globe. Praise God for loving family and friends!

Katherine and Bob Sanford (pictured above with their daughter, Melinda) and their entire family poured themselves into the wedding in numerous and incredible ways. They sang, hosted, coordinated, organized, delivered, cleaned, and served in any and every way needed. They also cried with us as we said goodbye to our precious daughter—shared tears are the best. A special hug from Becca blessed my night! Praise God for good friends!

Emilee Degenhart and Sarah Niesen served punch to our guests.

The Grutzius sisters took turns blessing us with heavenly harp music during the reception. Thank you, ladies!

The Winton family lit up the night by blessing us all with blue grass music that had everyone dancing – including grandpas! Melissa and her papa had a blast! Be sure to check out their website and CDs HERE.

A few days after the wedding, we were feelin’ down, missing Tiffany and all; so, the Wintons were kind enough to cheer us up with a living room concert – our daughters even joined in the singing. See a short video HERE

A family photo…oops, where is Ben?

Mimi & Papa and Great Grandma Betty & Great Grandpa David with the bride and groom

Tearful goodbyes…

Other special thanks go to:

Videography: Stephen Littmann and family (contact info on request)
Professional Photography: My sister, Michelle DeBakey (photos coming soon)
Live Stream: Steve Bandy, Ashton Bandy and Aaron Blick

The list of everyone who poured themselves into Ben and Tiffany’s wedding and served our families in various ways is extensive and too long for this blog post; so, if your name isn’t mentioned, please know it isn’t because your efforts were overlooked!

We appreciate and love you all and are so grateful of your work and service. Tiffany told me it was the wedding she always dreamed of – and it would never have come together the way it did without the loving efforts of so many friends and family!

Thank you all for the help, offers of help, prayers, love, support, and words of encouragement. There is no way we’ll be able to list all the ways we were blessed by our brothers and sisters at Providence Church, Harvard Church, Central Valley Presbyterian Church, and Reformation Church (and beyond)! But to name just a few, thank you for:

• All the help with chopping, mixing, measuring, and preparing all the food for the reception. Many hands made the load light!
• Errand Running – what a blessing in the midst of busyness!
• Fruit and Vegetable Transportion! Thank you, Hector family, for bringing all the limes, avocados, tomatillos, and jalapenos all the way from California!
• The blessing of set up help, and the way everyone came together to tear down and clean up afterward (what a HUGE blessing that was to us, as we were able to head home with tearful little ones after Ben and Tiffany left).
• Washing mountains of dishes.
• Waiting and clearing tables.
• Serving cupcakes
• Taking care of sound and technical details.
• Helping to paint and decorate the bridal room.
• Putting away food and cleaning the kitchen.
• Delivering all the food, decorations and dishes to a safe place.
• Hosting all of our visiting families.
• Making extra food the Sunday after the wedding to accommodate wedding guests who stayed for worship.
• Loaning out punch bowls, buckets, food storage containers, wedding dec, and trees.
• Hugs, prayers, and simply making us feel loved.

And thank you to all the Hectors, our precious new family. Your love, support, visits, plane tickets, errands, phone calls, IMs, emails, tears, hugs, groceries, and assistance in so many ways with the wedding and reception were all so appreciated, and crucial to the outcome of everything. And thank you for raising up such a godly young man for our Tiffany. We love you and thank God for you!

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)

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Categories: Courtship, Family Photos
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